"Economic conditions have remained supportive, with labour market conditions continuing to improve and mortgage interest rates close to all-time lows."
- Nationwide
Property prices in the United Kingdom have increased this month, even though growth remained subdued after strong gains a few years ago. According to Nationwide, the agency which is publishing housing price data every month, the average price of a house in the country edged up just 0.1% in March on the annual basis, or somewhat lower than a 0.2% gain forecasted by the majority of analysts. Moreover, on the annual basis a downward change was even steeper, with prices going up 5.1%, down from 5.7% seen in February. Therefore, prices' growth has been decreasing for the seventh consecutive month. In 2012 and 2013 they have registered a strong climb, and the current situation is usually explained as a calm-down with the HPI Index returning to less volatile and stable levels. At the moment prices are staying around 2% above the pre-crisis peak.
In the meantime, Nationwide's experts are pointing on still rather broad differences in price tendencies across Britain. The strongest rate of annual advance was posted by the South of England and London, two regions where economic situation seems to be more optimistic, compared with other parts of the country. North West England, Wales and Scotland have all seen prices cooling down, with Wales alone providing a drop of 0.5% in Q1 on the yearly basis. Moreover, prices in these three regions remain below the pre-recession peak level reached in 2007.
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